


Firsts

by abigail89



Category: NCIS, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Annoying co-workers are annoying, Christmas Fluff, First Christmas, First time for everything, M/M, but they're good people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-24 01:05:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2562440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abigail89/pseuds/abigail89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leonard returns to Jethro on Christmas Day to celebrate a couple of ‘firsts’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Firsts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [treksnoopy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treksnoopy/gifts).



> For treksnoopy who requested a story in my NCIS/ST:AOS crossover ‘verse “I Sing the Body Miraculous”. The story references another story "One Moment", but you don't have to read it, unless the reference needles at you. 
> 
> Written December 2012.

“Bones!” Jethro stands in the doorway of his small house in Bethesda, coffee mug in hand. “What are you doing here?”

“What does it look like?” Leo says. He’s got a backpack on his shoulder, a suitcase in one hand, and his keys in the other. “Move, dammit! It’s cold.”

Jethro steps aside to allow his lover to enter his-- _their_ \--house. “You’re supposed to be in Atlanta.”

Leo drops his suitcase and deposits the backpack beside it. “I know! Joanna gave me such shit about you being here on your own that I had to leave. She was gonna pester me until I did, so I got my flight changed to first thing this morning.” He pulls off the ridiculously puffy overcoat, one only a true Southern boy would purchase for a Mid-Atlantic winter, and lets it fall to the floor. “She said she wouldn’t be responsible.”

Jethro quirks his head. “Responsible? Responsible for what?”

Leo averts his gaze. “For us missing our first Christmas together. Or some such.” He flaps his hand dismissively. “Said it wasn’t right.”

Jethro grins. “We’ll have plenty of Christmases together, Bones. But only one first.”

Leo looks up sharply. “My god, man. That’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever said to me.” He takes one long step and into Jethro’s arms.

“I’m glad you’re home,” Jethro says, pressing a kiss to the soft skin under Leo’s ear.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

Leo buries his face in Jethro’s neck and inhales deeply. “That I should’ve been here. I don’t think about these kinds of things. First Christmases and all.” He tightens his hold on Jethro’s slender frame, running his hands up and down his back. One slips further south to palm a beautifully sculpted, hard globe appreciatively.

Jethro laughs into Leo’s ear. “I missed you, too.”

Leo’s hand rubs the perfect curve of muscle as he speaks. “Squeezed in a lot of family visits in three days--Mom, aunts and uncles, a cousin or five. Joanna loved it. She never gets to see most of those folks now.”

“Then you had a very productive time.” Jethro mirrors his boyfriend’s hands by placing his on Leo’s ass. “Mmm...we could be more productive as well.”

That’s all the encouragement Leo needs; he withdraws his face from Jethro’s neck to find and capture Jethro’s lips with his. The kiss starts slow and sweet, but quickly becomes hot, needy and wet. They press against each other, moaning as they do. “Bed?” Leo asks.

“Bed,” Jethro agrees.

As he takes Jethro’s hand to go up the stairs to their bedroom, he notices the small Christmas tree they’d decorated a week ago was bare. “What happened to the tree?” Leo asks.

“Well, you were gone and what do I need a tree for?”

Leo’s mouth opens and closes. “Jethro! Today is _Christmas_! You’re not supposed to take the tree down until New Year’s.”

Jethro shrugs. “You wanna put the lights back on now?”

“Absolutely not.” Leo crushes him to his chest, kissing him ferociously. When they finally break apart, he says, “There’s sex to be had.”

They run up the stairs.

*~*

“You’ve got the day off, right?” Leo asks, snuggled in Jethro’s arms. He’s drowsy and warm, despite being elated at being home again.

“Mmm-hmm. And tomorrow.” Jethro is lightly tracing a non-descript pattern in Leo’s bicep with a couple of fingers. “And two days after that.”

“Holy shit!” Leo says, raising his head and twisting to look him in the eyes. “YOU, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, have an entire _week_ off?”

“Yeah, so?

Leo sits up, then turns and straddles him. “In the, what? Twelve months that I’ve known you...holy shit! It’s our one year anniversary!” Leo wriggles in Jethro's lap, making them both sigh a little. “Well, fuck me!”

“Just did.”

“Oh, ha-ha,” Leo scoffs. “Yes, you did. And well, too.” Leo leans down and kisses him thoroughly and longingly. “So two things: one, you have an entire week off, which I don’t think has ever happened. And two, it’s our anniversary. What are we going to do?”

Jethro kisses him again. “I don’t know. Stay here. Fuck. Drink. Eat. Repeat.”

Leo throws his head back, laughing. “Sounds like a plan.” He slides down Jethro’s body, running his hand through the thick chest hair. “But we need to do something a little special, right?”

“If you want. But all I need is you.” Jethro gives him a significant look. “You do have the rest of this week off, right?”

“I think so. I discharged all my patients before I left for Atlanta. Hmm...I’ll have to check in, though.”

“Make sure. I intend to keep you naked, well fed, and thoroughly fucked.”

Leo kisses him again. “I like how you think.”

“You like how I fuck, too.”

Leo lays his head on Jethro’s chest. “I do.”

They bask in the comfort of each other for a while longer. It’s not often they get the opportunity to just rest, just _be_ , especially like this. They’re busy men with demanding jobs and too much responsibility. They love what they do--investigator and surgeon--and they know the time off is simply an illusion. Several hours of each vacation day will be devoted to checking in, thinking about what they do, and maybe running by the office. But maybe this holiday, they’ll actually stay home and be together.

“Are you happy, Jethro?” Leo asks softly.

Jethro takes his time. “Happier than I have been in a very long time,” he says.

“So the whole ‘being with a guy’. . . .” He trails off.

Jethro shrugs. “Some days I still have to wrap my head around it. But talking to an agency shrink helped a little.”

Leo rises up on an elbow. “Really? When did you do that?”

Jethro closes his eyes. “Last time you went to Afghanistan, and I was doing the laundry. It was all so. . .it reminded me of when I was married. Instead of folding panties, I was folding boxers that were my size. It just. . .I don’t know. It hit me. So I talked to one of the staff psychologists.”

Leo whistles quietly. “All on your own, you went to a shrink?”

Jethro snorts and turns away from him. “I talk to them all the time. Agency protocol There’s one woman I’m comfortable with.”

“And she helped you?”

“She helped me think through some of the things going through my head. Like, my image at work. Which, hasn’t changed at all,” he adds hastily.

“And you still haven’t told your dad.”

Jethro sighs. “It’s not that I don’t want to tell him. It’s just--that’s another conversation for another day.”

Leo kisses him slowly. “I trust you. And I trust you to handle your life. Tell him, don’t tell him. It doesn’t matter.”

“Really? Did you tell your mom?”

Leo shakes his head. “I had a built-in advocate.”

“Ah, Joanna.”

“She told Jocelyn and my mom. She also fiercely defended me, saying I was happier than she’s ever seen me. So, if I’m happy, my mom’s happy. And she is.” Leo kisses him again. “I didn’t press the issue, but Jo asked all kinds of questions. She wants to meet you.”

“Hmm.”

Leo is silent for a moment. “No pressure. I mean, if you don’t want, then--” He shrugs.

“Of course I want to meet your mom. And anyone else in your family,” Jethro says, sitting up. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Leo kisses him again. “Well, we’ll go see her some time.”

“Good.” Jethro pulls him down by his neck and wraps his arms around him. “Want to.”

Leo leans into the kiss. Jethro’s hands go exploring, squeezing his now very interested cock, pinching his right nipple, lightly grazing his sensitive abdominals with the tips of his fingers. It’s wonderful and lovely and everything Leo loves about this man--sensitive, strong, quietly passionate. He loves Jethro’s inquisitive mind and stubborn determination and devotion to duty, but _this_ is the one place where he can set all that aside and unleash the raw emotional part of him that hardly anyone sees. Leo loves that _he_ gives Jethro the freedom to do this, to show this side, to break down the strict barriers to his feelings. . . .

Jethro rolls him over and starts rubbing his cock between Leo’s legs, hard, hot and slick with pre-come, Leo encourages him by pinching Jethro’s nipples, making him moan and kiss harder. He reaches for the lube.

Jethro breaks the kiss suddenly. “Did you hear that?” he asks, breathless.

“Hear what? I don’t hear anything,” Leo replies. He tries to keep the whine out of his voice. But he’s on edge and wants it _bad_ and then he hears the doorbell. “Fuck. Maybe they’ll go away?”

“Nope.” Jethro climbs off. “I think it’s my team.” He runs to the bathroom.

“Your _team_? Don’t these people have family to celebrate Christmas with? Don’t they have lives?” Leo is full-blown annoyed now. “Did you invite them over here for Christmas dinner?”

He reappears having peed and combed his hair. He pulls on boxers and jeans, and hunts for a shirt in the closet. “They mentioned something about it when they heard you were away.”

Leo rubs his face with his hands, and gets out of bed. “Well, go let them in.” He goes into the bathroom and turns on the shower.

Jethro stops buttoning his shirt. “You okay with this?” he calls.

“Guess I’m gonna have to be.”

“I can send them away.”

Leo hears the slight rebuke in his voice and takes a deep breath. “No. Just give me a second to switch gears. All right?”

“Sure.”

Over the rushing water, Leo hears Jethro leave the bedroom. He likes Jethro’s band of very smart and intense co-workers. They’ve all got unique quirks and interests; some might find them to be odd, but the quirks all work together to form a team of brilliant thinkers and investigators. Even Dr. Mallard, with whom Leo had some disagreements when treating Tim McGee’s injuries last year, the how and where he’d met Jethro, is congenial and fun to be around. He’s still not sure what makes Abby Sciuto tick, but he knows Jethro thinks the world of her, and therefore, he does, too. He knows never to piss off Ziva David; and DiNozzo--well, once you get past his bluster, Tony’s actually a pretty good guy. And McGee and the kid from Dr. Mallard’s lab, Jimmy, are just puppies, sweet and brilliant, but puppies nonetheless.

He washes his hair, and thinks maybe it’ll be all right.

*~*

“No, really,” Leo says, “I can’t eat another bite. Y’all have stuffed me beyond full.”

“Perhaps a brisk walk and then some pie,” Ducky says, taking another swallow of wine. “Walking is so intrinsic to Scottish culture. . .”

Leo half-listens to Ducky declaim on Scotland and walking and the origins of the Aboriginal walkabout. He catches snatches of other conversation around the room, where clumps of people are sitting, finishing the last of an enormous meal provided by the NCIS team. Most of it was store-bought, but Abby had made the sweet potato casserole southern style. There will be left-overs for days.

Jethro is sitting on the old sofa next to McGee, listening to the conversation between him and Abby. Ziva and Tony are laughing with Jimmy over something he’d said. It has been a pleasant and lovely Christmas afternoon, especially when Abby insisted on re-decorating the tree and teaching Ziva how to hang tinsel properly.

“My dear young man, I cannot tell you how much of a change we’ve seen in Jethro over these past months,” Ducky says. “He’s happier than he has been in a very long time.”

Leo isn’t sure how to respond. He knows of all the people Jethro works with, Ducky is his oldest, and dearest, friend. “I hope so,” he says finally. “I’m happy--I’m more settled than I have been in a long time.” He hesitates. “So everyone is okay with Jethro's. . .change in teams, as it were?”

Ducky gives him a smiles and shakes his head. “I must admit, it _did_ take me by surprise. I completely missed that part of Jethro’s psychological make-up, and I am supposed to pay attention to those kinds of details. But no, there has been no untoward consequences for Jethro. Just goes to show that four marriages and many short liaisons with women doesn’t always give us the complete picture.”

“Hmm. Like me,” Leo admits, “the attraction to men was always there, but never acknowledged or acted upon. It took the right man to prompt me to do something other than just pine.”

“And is this your first relationship with a man?”

The question is a legitimate one, not nosy or out of line, Leo wants to believe, so he answers: “I had a brief affair with a medical school classmate before I met my wife. Then, after we divorced I’m sorry to say I had a string of one-nighters--practicing safe sex protocols, but no one really caught my attention until Jethro.” He ends with a smile.

Ducky places a comforting hand on his arm. “Isn’t it wonderful that you’re both given this opportunity to find someone who really fits?”

Leo gives him a genuine smile. “Yeah, it really is.”

*~*

“OhMyGawd!” Abby squeals. “I can’t believe you guys didn’t even think that this was your first anniversary of being together.”

“We’ve had other things to think about, Abs,” Jethro says. He gives Leo a wink.

“Fortunately, we did take note of this occasion,” Ziva says, “and we have come prepared. Tim?”

“We all chipped in and got you this.” McGee holds out an envelope to Jethro.

“Guys, what--you didn’t have to do this.” Jethro turns a delicious shade of red.

“Yes, we really did!” Abby affirms. “Open it!”

Jethro nods his head and Leo comes to sit on the arm of the old sofa next to him. “Here, you open it.”

Leo sets his mug of coffee on the table and takes the envelope. “Let me also say that we did, in fact, realize our first anniversary is this week, and were making plans.”

“And when did you realize this?” Ziva asks.

Leo snorts. “Well, today...” And they all laugh. “But we really were talking about doing something.”

“Yeah, staying home and drinking,” Tony says in a _soto voice_.

“Yep, that was two parts of the plan,” Jethro says.

Leo opens the envelope and removes a fancy card. “‘This entitles Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Leonard McCoy to a day of rest and relaxation at Spa Therapy,’” Leo reads. “A massage? A whole day of massages?”

“Not just massages,” Tim says, “but a day of taking care of yourselves. Good food, soaking in a hot tub, hot stone therapy for your feet and legs...”

“Facials, mud baths, waxes,” Abby adds. “It’s the place McGee goes to.”

“It’s a place that caters to men,” Tim says. “They have a great lunch.”

“Oh, hell, no,” Jethro says. “No one is coming near me with a hot stone.”

“Or hot wax,” Leo adds.

“Just try it,” Tim says. “Trust me. We set up your appointment for day after tomorrow. I hope you don’t mind, Leo, but I checked your schedule at the hospital. Captain Chapel assured me you had the day off.”

Leo’s face falls into his hand. “You told Chapel I was going to a spa?”

“Well, I--um, well, yes?” Tim says. “She said if there was anyone who needed a massage it was you.”

“Great. Just great.”

Jethro sends Tim a reassuring smile. “More ammo for the hospital gossip mill. It’ll be all right.”

“So you’ll go?” Abby asks. Her face is alight with expectation.

Leo and Jethro look at each other. “Well, yeah,” Jethro says, his eyes never leaving Leo’s. “I mean, since you’ve bought it and all.”

Leo sighs. “I’m willing to try it.”

“Yay!” Abby says. “You’re gonna love it.”

*~*

Later, much later, after the team is gone and the kitchen is clean and the lights are low, Leo lays sleepily next to Jethro. “I haven’t played in the mud since I was four.”

Jethro gives him a quiet laugh. “It’s probably a little different.”

“Mud is mud.” He grows silent.

“Are you okay with this?” Jethro asks.

“What, with the fact that your people gave us a very generous and thoughtful gift? Of course I’m fine with it. I did sound sincere, didn’t I? Please tell me I did.”

Jethro finds and pats Leo’s hand. “You did. I bought it, and I know you.”

“Good, but I am grateful. It’s very kind of them.”

“So, a good first Christmas?” Jethro turns to him and settles his arm around Leo’s waist.

“Mm-hmm. The best.”

“We’ll have an even better first anniversary,” Jethro says. “Hot tub sex.” And he licks Leo’s ear.

“Promise?”

“Oh, most definitely.”

*~*

And, you know there’s gonna have to be a Part 2: "The Mud Fight". :D

Um...I'm working on it?


End file.
